


one

by junietuesday25



Series: one to six [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Nonamorous Character(s), Soulmates, Trope Subversion/Inversion, amatonormativity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22536574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junietuesday25/pseuds/junietuesday25
Summary: The nurses glance at each other. The mother notices their looks.“Is—is something wrong?”“No, no!” the blonde-haired nurse reassures quickly. “Your child just has their soulmark in an uncommon area. And even if we don’t find it now, it’ll definitely appear within one to six weeks.”...The boy’s soulmark does not appear within one to six weeks.
Series: one to six [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1621549
Kudos: 8





	one

**Author's Note:**

> hello friends! this (and its series) is a part of a project of mine i've been working on about subverting tropes about soulmates -- this series focuses on the idea of soulmarks along with general soulmates. while i wrote this first part a while ago, the next five parts to this are going to be published once every week of february for arowrimo, or aromantic writing month, which you should totally check out on tumblr @arowrimo!

The nurses wipe down the baby as the mother pants, studying him to look for the small squiggles that will eventually grow into the tattoo that marks his soulmate. The most common place for them is on the dominant arm—the baby doesn’t have anything on either arm, but that’s okay, it’s not strange for it to be somewhere else. They check the legs, then the collarbone, then the waist.

The nurses glance at each other. The mother notices their looks.

“Is—is something wrong?”

“No, no!” the blonde-haired nurse reassures quickly. “Your child just has their soulmark in an uncommon area. And even if we don’t find it now, it’ll definitely appear within one to six weeks.”

* * *

The boy’s soulmark does not appear within one to six weeks. Nor does it appear within one to six years. The mother and the parent are horrified and deeply embarrassed; they choose to hide the child’s lack of tattoo by writing on their son’s arm in dark, long-lasting ink. 

“Good morning!” reads the message cheerfully painted on his skin. So innocent, to cause so much distress.

The boy asks why they do this, cries whenever it’s time to renew the tattoo. But the parents insist on it. He’s told to pretend that the tattoo is a part of his skin.

He gets his explanation in first grade.

“Today we’ll be talking about soulmates!” the teacher says cheerfully, as she pulls up a PowerPoint on the projector. The kids around him whisper to each other excitedly, pulling up sleeves and skirts to show off their tattoos. The boy stares down at his desk as the teacher calls for them to settle down.

“As you all know,” the teacher begins when the first graders have stopped squirming in eagerness, “your soulmate is the person you’re destined to love the most, and who’s destined to love you the most. You are the most important people to each other, and you’ll build your lives around each other once you’re older.”

The boy kicks his leg under his desk. Soulmates don’t sound so bad, so why does thinking about himself with a soulmate in the future feel so _wrong?_

When the bell rings for recess, the boy sits hidden, underneath the slide, and pulls up his sleeve to his arm, licking his finger and rubbing it against his tattoo. It smudges under his touch.

**Author's Note:**

> if you're wondering why soulmates are bad, search "soulmates" (or “platonic soulmates”) on @arotechno on tumblr


End file.
